“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
Julia Child
And my mac addiction continues. January has been a month of sneaking into the kitchen when all the world is asleep, grabbing that aging egg white lying questionably on the counter, and whipping it up. The saga goes on, macronage and failed feet again and again. What for?? For MacTweets of course, where Jamie and me are calling for Mac-a-Valentines for the month of January for MacAttack 4. I present my failures and success for this attack … my love for macarons!!
Batch after batch, thankfully of single egg whites, seem to yield mixed results. I got 1 FEET in batch number 3??? Aaargh, at least get me a pair so I could come up with a decent picture! Strangely enough, one cookie sheet yields macarons in all hues. Some smooth shells/no feet, some cracked shells/yes feet, some blobs/no nothing …and so on! But mac-passionate me trudged along, and finally attempt 6 bore some feet. Well 6 pairs of feet, which is not bad from 1 batch. Sandwiched with a Nutella and milk chocolate ganache, the hub gave it 10/10! Not a bad apgar score for my new born feet huh?
He said he hadn’t tasted anything better! JOY!!
I’ve finally figured it was my oven. These fiddly creatures need an even heating throughout and my old dilapidated oven is not quite suited to these finicky creatures. Having folded the meringue and nut-sugar mix into a lava type macronage a million times at least, I know now that it’s not the whipping and folding that’s at fault. It’s become a 10 minute job for me now, from start to finish, using the Levobitz recipe. 1 egg white + 1/4 cup nut mixture + 1/2 cup sugar + 2.5tbsp granulated sugar…and I’m ready to pipe! You win some, you lose some. Er, in my case, I won some, lost loads.
These verrines are a result of 3 batches of failed macarons. Couldn’t stuff any more boxes. Besides, Meeta was away, so I had no one to give me any hiding suggestions. Racked my mac-weary brains and came up with something to put my feetless macs to good use. This seemed good enough for me. Thought I would do verrines, which are basically layered appetizers or desserts in a glass, so the layers are visible. Well, guess I’m not far from it here!
A verrine is a confection, originally from France, made by layering ingredients in a small glass. It can be either sweet or savoury, making a dessert or snack.
There are new words on every French lips: Verrines and apéritifs dînatoires. Verrines are a great ‘degustation’of mixed flavours. The kids love them and its a great way also of using up the leftovers. And if you wanted to go full-French, you could have an apéritif dînatoire during which you would serve des verrines délicieuses. Verrines are a beautiful way to serve food, and as the name indicates, the food is served in a glass, which allow for playing with layering and transparencies. If using oven- proof glasses, verrines can be served cooked, but they are often served cold.
In my verrines, there is a layer of pink pepper crushed macarons, followed by a layer of chopped strawberries and Bavarian cream, a layer of chocolate Aztec chili crushed macarons, Bavarian cream cream, pink pepper crushed macarons … and finally a topping of a slightly tart, thick gelee of frozen strawberries blended with vanilla sugar! What better way could I have used these silly failed macarons?
The verdict … all you could hear was the sound of spoons scraping glass in the backdrop of pin drop silence. “There had to me more!! Scrape, scrape!!” After there was no more, the boy came to the kitchen to leave his glass for a wash. He declared, ” Today was a nice day Mama. Finally learnt how to somersault, and had really nice dessert. It was very very nice!” It was indeed. I reduced the sugar in the Bavarian cream recipe keeping in mind how sweet macaron shells can be. The strawberries and Bavarian complimented the pink peppercorn and Aztec chili chocolate very well! Thank you Anushruti for the pink peppercorn, and Val for sending me an assortment of pretty glass bottles filled with spice blends. They are from an artisanal food company, ‘Made With Love, and are gorgeous.
As I write this post, my mind is galloping in many directions, and I know in future you shall see more of these hodge podge desserts as MacTweets is a monthly affair! Having traced the problem to a finicky oven that doesn’t give uniform heat, I know I shall find a few feet each time, and lots of feetless ones!! To all those of you who are scared of mac-feet-failure, fear not. These verrines are a fine destination for them. Layer the verrines with mascarpone if you’d rather, but do give it a shot!
Strawberry & Chocolate Mac-a-Verrines Makes 8 servings Macarons – crushed, from a batch of 3 egg whites, recipe here. (Or you can use biscuit/wafer/cake crumbs of your choice) 250gms strawberries, 100gms chopped, and the rest for the gelee Bavarian Cream – 1 quantity (recipe below) Strawberry Gelee – 1 quantity (recipe below)
TO ASSEMBLE:
Add 1-2 tbsps of pink pepper crushed macarons, followed by a layer of chopped strawberries and 1-2 tbsps of Bavarian cream. Then a layer of chocolate chili macarons, followed by another layer of Bavarian cream, and then one of crushed macarons again.
Top the verrines with 1-2 tbsps of gelee each, followed by chcolate shavings etc.
Bavarian Cream 3 egg yolks 1/4 cup vanilla sugar 300ml whole milk, hot 1/4 cup sugar 3/8cup cornflour 1 vanilla bean, scraped 200ml cream, whipped to soft peaks Method;
Simmer the whole milk, scraped seeds from the vanilla bean, bean and 1/4 cup sugar in a pan for 15 minutes to infuse the flavours from the bean.
Whisk the yolks with 1/4 cup sugar in a micxing bowl, and then whick in the cornflour.
Remove the milk from the hat, whick in the yolk mixture, return pan to simmer and continue whisking till it thickens to a nice custard (about 4-5 minutes).
Take off, remove the bean and cool completely. You can hasten this by stirring the custard over a bowl of ice.
Once cool, fold in the unsweetend whipped cream, gently and thoroughly
Strawberry Gelee (faux)
150gms Strawberries (frozen)
1/4-1/2 cup vanilla sugar (depending on how sweet/tart the fruit is)
Method:
Make a faux gelee of frozen strawberries blended with vanilla sugar! Let it sit for about 30minutes to get into a gel like consistency.
I didn’t use gelatin because it is very cold these days, and so I got a good consistency for topping. You might consider using some gelatin in case the weather is warm.
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?? If you do, you are most welcome to join the challenge. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. The rules for Mac Attack #4 can be found here. You still have until the 10th of February to join us with happy feet!
Chocolate Nut Macarons Recipe adapted fromDavid Lebovitzs’ Makes 12-15 macarons 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup milled nut flour (from Linswood UK) 1 tbsp cocoa powder 1 egg white, aged 2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar Pinch of cream of tartar (or 1 drop of lime juice) Method:
Run the powdered sugar, nut mix and cocoa in a blender and then pass through a fine sieve.
Whip the egg white for a few seconds until just foamy. Add the cream of tartar and granulated sugar and whip to a glossy meringue. (If you hold the bowl upside dow, it shouldn’t fall out…try this at your own risk!!). Don’t overbeat the whites.
Add the sifted nut-sugar-cocoa mix to this and fold through gently to get a lava type macronage.
Pipe onto parchment paper, and allow to rest for 2 hours.
Bake at 140C for 12-15minutes, until they feel firm. Touch them lightly, and if they are still jiggly, give them a minute or two more.
Take out tray and transfer macarons to a cooling rack. You can spray the bottom of the parchment paper with water to help release the bottoms.
I sandwiched them with a milk chocolate ganache mixed with a tablespoon of Nutella.
Note: My failed macarons were made with almond meal. One batch had pink peppercorn flavouring it, and the other had an Aztec chili chocolate sugar blend added to it while blending.
